Joan Crawford's teenage Kansas City home a problem property

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Live in an old house, and it seems like the work is never done. Hyde Park neighborhood resident Michael Felix likes it that way.

"It's a never ending cycle," said Felix. "I think everyone has at least one project going at all times."

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Association wants more people like Felix moving in and fixing up old homes.

The association has compiled a list of twelve "problem properties" that are run-down, vacant and in need of rehabilitation. One home on the list has a famous former resident.

Movie star Joan Crawford lived at 4343 Campbell during her teenage years, from 1919 to 1922. It used to be the Rockingham Academy, but today it's hardly fit for a movie star, sitting empty and on the city's "uninhabitable" list.

"The sad reality is that all these properties impact all the surrounding homes and businesses around them," said Hyde Park Neighborhood Association president Dave Kimmis.

He said absent and uncooperative owners make rehabilitating homes difficult. Kimmis said the city can help with stronger codes and more enforcement.

"That really can get people to do what they need to, so that process doesn't drag out so long," he said.